The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner for Schleswig-Holstein said it would appeal

A German court ruling will allow Facebook to ban the use of fake names on the social network.

The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner for Schleswig-Holstein challenged a Facebook policy last year that requires users to create profiles with their real names only -- no nicknames or fake names allowed.

The German privacy watchdog said this policy breaches German privacy laws that allow free speech on the Internet. Facebook argued that real names were necessary to protect users.

"It is unacceptable that a U.S. portal like Facebook violates German data protection law unopposed and with no prospect of an end," said Thilo Weichert, Privacy Commissioner and head of ULD. "The aim of the orders of ULD is to finally bring about a legal clarification of who is responsible for Facebook and to what this company is bound to."

However, the German court ruled that the Irish data protection law applied in this case, where Irish data protection officials handle Facebook privacy concerns in Europe (because Facebook's European headquarters is in Ireland).

"We are pleased with the decision, [which] we believe ... is a step into the right direction," a Facebook spokesman said in a statement. "We hope that our critics will understand that it is the role of individual services to determine their own policies about anonymity within the governing law – for Facebook Ireland European data protection and Irish law. We therefore feel affirmed that the orders are without merit."

The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner for Schleswig-Holstein said it would appeal.

Facebook is a fad that will eventually phase out. Many are already bored/disgusted with it and refuse to use it. It's going the way of MySpace. Why? To be honest it's a POS. It simply is not that well designed. Furthermore, it has too elusive of controls/TOS/privacy. Also, people are becoming more and more uncaring of other people. Relationships are faltering with today's youth. If Facebook is the way to communicate between ourselves, I don't want it. I have a feeling that at some point our youth will reject technology some and get back to the basics, speaking to one another. At least, I sort of hope we will.

"I mean, if you wanna break down someone's door, why don't you start with AT&T, for God sakes? They make your amazing phone unusable as a phone!" -- Jon Stewart on Apple and the iPhone